Modern science has provided increasing insight into the mental and physiological mechanisms of stress and its effects on human health. A wide variety of factors, including age, family dynamics, diet, exercise, work-related demands, environmental toxins, and genetics can contribute substantially to stress and an individual's ability to cope therewith. Stress is now understood as both a mental or psychological phenomenon and a physiological state, both of which relate to tension, wear, and strain on the individual and which cause a variety of ill effects, including heart disease, weight gain, cancer, and depression.
Accordingly, relaxation, or de-stressing, has increasingly been shown to have measurable health effects, ameliorating unhealthy conditions caused by stress and prolonging life. Relaxation may be promoted in a variety of ways, both at the decision making level of the individual—e.g., whether to take a vacation, to engage in mental therapy, or to choose a less stressful occupation—and at the molecular biological level.
Light has long been associated with causing healthful effects on biological systems. For example, the health-promoting properties of sunlight were accepted experiential knowledge in the ancient Egyptian and Greek cultures of Akhenaton and Herodotus. More recently, modern scientific research has shown that certain cellular activities may be modulated by exposure of the cellular tissue to light. Light of different energies (i.e., different wavelengths of light) can act on different mechanisms within individual cells within the cellular tissue to stimulate or suppress biological activity within the cells in a process commonly referred to as photobiomodulation. In certain photobiomodulation applications, commonly known as light therapy or phototherapy, the different wavelengths are used to promote healing, revitalize and rejuvenate cells, and in some circumstances, stimulate cellular regeneration and regrowth.
Biomolecules like cytochrome-C oxidase, hemoglobin, myoglobin, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), found in cellular tissue, are recognized as photon acceptors and serve to initiate biochemical cellular response to photons. Additionally, it is recognized that certain biologic quantum field effects result from exposing cellular tissue to photonic light and that living cells generate low levels of photons, called biophotons. These biophotons are non-thermal in nature and are coupled to physiological functions in the cellular tissue. Biophotons represent regulatory activity from chemical reactivity within a cell and also perform regulatory activity over a given cellular tissue to promote cell growth and differentiation, and to provide intercellular and intracellular communication, such as for example, synchronicity in biofunction between cells. Such biophotons within a cellular tissue can be simulated by photonic light of one or more specific wavelengths from a source external to the cellular tissue. Such photonic light, when exposed to the cellular tissue, results in promotion of regulatory activity within the cells of the exposed cellular tissue.
Thus, it is generally accepted that cell activity can be up-regulated and down-regulated by specific wavelengths of low intensity light. The up- and down-regulation of cell activity through photobiomodulation is used to suppress cytokines, block the matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) cascade, suppress interleukins (IL) and tissue necrosis factors, and decrease inflammation of cellular tissue. Photobiomodulation is also used to affect mitochondrial density and activity, cell proliferation and adhesiveness, and DNA and RNA production. Phototherapy has been shown to affect vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression (both enhancement and suppression) and to protect against a wide variety of toxins, such as chemical, ionizing, and bacteriologic toxins.
At least some of the known effects of the various wavelengths on body tissues are as follows. Light in the yellow range (approximately 577 nm to 597 nm) has been shown to switch off collagenase production by down-regulating MMPs and switching on new collagen production. Collagenases are enzymes that break down the native collagen that holds animal tissue together. Thus, use of light in the yellow range for phototherapy ultimately results in increased cohesion of cells in animal tissue. Light in the red range (approximately 640 nm to 700 nm) has been shown to decrease inflammation in injured tissue, increase ATP production, and otherwise stimulate beneficial cellular activity. Light in the blue range (approximately 405 nm to 450 nm) has been shown to kill various microorganisms. For example, light in the blue range has been shown to kill the propionibacterium that causes acne by activating the porphyrins produced by the bacteria. Accordingly, phototherapy has been utilized to treat infants for jaundice, to treat acne and other skin conditions, to treat rhinitis, and to treat traumatic tissue injuries.
Thus, varying wavelengths of light along the visible light scale are known to have photobiomodulatory effects. Light with shorter wavelengths, such as visible blue light and ultraviolet (UV) light, is possessed of higher energy than light with longer wavelengths. UV light that reaches Earth includes the UVA (from about 320 nm to about 400 nm) and UVB (from about 290 nm to about 320 nm) forms. Like blue light and other visible-spectrum energies discussed above, UV light is known to play an important role in modulating biological processes. For example, the role of UVB light in producing non-dietary Vitamin D secosteroids—which are necessary for enhancing dietary absorption of minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc—is well known: UVB radiation converts the provitamin D7 (7-dehydrocholesterol) into pre-vitamin D3 in the outer dermis; the biologically inert pre-vitamin is hydrodxylated in the liver and kidney to produce Vitamin D3, which influences a variety of biological functions, including cellular information, cell differentiation, immune response, macrophage activity, and myocardial metabolism.
Exposure to UVB radiation is also important in maintaining the body's natural circadian rhythms. Metabolism, sleep, arousal, and feeding activities are known to be tied to the regular diurnal/nocturnal light cycle. Thus, UVB radiation may be applied to an affected user to correct aberrant circadian rhythms, improve mood and alleviate depression, raise metabolism, heal injuries such as muscle sprains or tendonitis, or to supplement abnormal production of vitamin D from dietary sources, such as in users afflicted with cystic fibrosis or short bowel syndrome. Therefore, high-energy lights, such as blue and UVB light, may be used to produce or encourage a variety of desirable biological conditions, including diminished stress and improved metabolism. A user is more likely to feel more rested, relaxed, alert, and generally in better physical and mental condition after receiving an appropriate dosage of high-energy light.
Common approaches to high-energy phototherapy involve the application of close-proximity, high-intensity UVB light to bare skin, such as is often seen using a tanning lamp or tanning bed. However, excess UVB radiation—either through direct sunlight or through a light-transmitting device—can cause mutations, breakages, and other undesirable phenomena in DNA, increasing the risk of skin cancer and, frequently, burning or otherwise damaging the patient's skin. On the other hand, general purpose lighting, such as incandescent lighting, does not deliver sufficient energy to facilitate the desired photobiomodulatory effects. Thus, for optimal therapeutic outcomes, it is necessary to manage the intensity of a UVB or blue light source, the distance from the light source to the patient, and the overall exposure or “bathing” of the patient in light of an appropriate energy.
Nonvisual stimuli may also be helpful for encouraging or producing a relaxed, recuperative state. For example, it is known that certain audio signals can reduce blood pressure, lower pulse rate, relax muscles, lower oxygen consumption, and otherwise help the body transition from a stressed or alert state into a calm, restorative state. For example, while loud, discordant audio signals can initiate a stress response whereby the brain releases cortisol and other related hormones to cope with stress-induced inflammation, soothing audio signals such as classical music, choral chanting, the sound of ocean waves, or subsonic or ultrasonic vibrations can a calming effect, relaxing the endocrine and sympathetic nervous systems and directing the body's energy toward repair and stasis. Accordingly, appropriately selected audio therapy can encourage or cause a state of relaxation in a user.
Similarly, soothing aromas such as those used in aromatherapies, are known to calm the sympathetic nervous system, relaxing the brain, downregulating the production of stress hormones such as cortisol and upregulating production of anti-inflammatory compounds such as cytokines and corticotropin-releasing hormone. A relaxation therapy may also consider other ambient factors that affect a given user, such as the user's physical comfort in the space—i.e., whether they are standing or seated on a comfortable surface, as well as whether the ambient air is sufficiently warm, cool, fresh, and clear of allergens, irritants, and the like.
Therapies such as light therapy, aromatherapy and the like may applied on multiple occasions over time as part of a therapeutic regimen. To optimize the beneficial effects of a given therapy session, or of a therapeutic regimen in toto, user information might be collected, stored, and analyzed to instruct ideal therapy settings.
Therefore, there is a need to provide devices and information-driven methods for promoting relaxation using light therapy, alone or in conjunction with other sensory therapies. Thus, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.